Mark Taylor Receives $1.74 Million Verdict in Medical Malpractice Case
Congratulations to partner Mark Taylor on a well-deserved $1.74 million trial victory in Dallas County on November 19th in a medical malpractice case involving a morphine overdose death.
Our case involved Ben Bell, a 72 year-old man in hospice care who suffered from end-stage Alzheimer’s type dementia. Mr. Bell was living with his family and was becoming increasingly aggressive, which was not his normal personality. Based on recommendations from his hospice provider, Mr. Bell’s family took him to an ER operated by a large hospital system in the DFW area to have his medications evaluated. Prior to his admission, Mr. Bell’s hospice company had delivered a “comfort kit” of medications that would be available if his condition declined unexpectedly. The comfort kit included a small vial of morphine drops. His wife (upon a nurse’s recommendation) had administered a single 5 mg dose once to see if it helped with his agitation (it didn’t), and a week later they gave him another 5 mg dose before the 85-mile ride to the hospital.
After four days in the hospital (during which no morphine was given), Mr. Bell was finally transferred to the hospital’s behavioral health unit under the care of Dr. Husnain Ashraf, a psychiatrist. Without ever examining Mr. Bell or even checking his chart, Dr. Ashraf ordered the continuation of all home medications. Unfortunately, the morphine from the comfort kit was listed, and a nurse had entered it at a much higher dose. Mr. Bell was given a 90 mg extended-release morphine tablet, 18 times the amount of his prior two morphine administrations. Dr. Ashraf testified that he did not know why Mr. Bell needed morphine, but just assumed he must have had pain. He did not personally review Mr. Bell’s previous medications, nor did he talk with Mr. Bell, Mr. Bell’s family, his hospice provider, or his primary care physician. Mr. Bell went into respiratory depression, became unresponsive, and died two weeks later.
Judge Monica Purdy presided over the trial in the 95th District Court in Dallas County. Trey Allen of Allen & Nolte served as co-counsel during the trial and helped secure the victory.